Background and career
Fabian Anthony Forte (born February 6, 1943), professionally known as Fabian, is an American singer and actor. He became a teen idol in the late 1950s.
Fabian Forte was born on February 6, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born to Italian-American parents, he is the son of Josephine and Dominic Forte. His father was a Philadelphia police officer.
Talent manager Bob Marcucci was a friend of Fabian's next-door neighbor. One day, Fabian's father had a heart attack, and, while he was being taken away in an ambulance, Marcucci spotted Fabian. Fabian later recalled, "He kept staring at me and looking at me. I had a crew cut, but this was the day of Rick Nelson and Elvis. He comes up and says to me, 'So if you're ever interested in the rock and roll business...' and hands me his card. I looked at the guy like he was out of his mind. I told him, 'Leave me alone. I'm worried about my dad.'" When Fabian's father returned from the hospital, he was unable to work. When Marcucci persisted in his recruitment efforts, Fabian and his family were amenable to them, and he agreed to record a single. Frankie Avalon, also of South Philadelphia, suggested Fabian as a possibility. Fabian later said, "They gave me a pompadour and some clothes and those goddamned white bucks and out I went." "He was the right look and right for what we were going for", wrote Marcucci later.
Fabian was given an allowance from the record company of $30 a week (equivalent to $344 in 2025). He also kept working part-time at a pharmacy as well as studying at South Philadelphia High School, while practicing his singing. Fabian later said "I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew my goal, to try to make extra money. That meant a lot to our family. I rehearsed and rehearsed, and I really felt like a fish out of water. And we made a record. And it was horrible. Yet it got on Georgie Woods. For some reason, Georgie Woods played it." The song was "Shivers", which was a local hit in Chicago. This helped Fabian meet Dick Clark, who agreed to try Fabian at one of Clark's record hops, where singers would perform to teenage audiences. Fabian lip synched to a song and Clark wrote "the little girls at the hop went wild. They started screaming and yelling for this guy who didn't do a thing but stand there. I've never seen anything like it." Clark told Marcucci "you got a hit, he's a star. Now all you have to do is teach him to sing." Clark eventually put the young singer on American Bandstand where he sang "I'm in Love". Fabian later admitted this song "was not very good either" but "the response – they told me – was overwhelming. I had no idea. All during that period, I was doing record hops. Not getting paid for it, but for the record company promotions. Just lip synching to my records. The response was really good." When he was 15 years of age, Fabian received a Silver Award as "The Promising Male Vocalist of 1958". Marcucci gave a song written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus to Fabian. The song, entitled "I'm a Man" (not the Bo Diddley hit), was one that Fabian "liked a lot and was very comfortable with. It was giving me more experience, but I still felt like a fish out of water." Pomus' biographer later wrote Fabian's "labored reading of a macho lyric lent him a vulnerability that couldn't have been missed by his pubescent fans."
Marcucci heavily promoted Fabian's next single, "Turn Me Loose", which was released in 1959. Marcucci used a series of advertisements saying "Fabian Is Coming", "Who is Fabian?", and finally "Fabian is Here". The promotional efforts worked; "Turn Me Loose" reached the Top Ten, peaking at number 9. "Turn Me Loose" was followed by "Hound Dog Man", (US number 9; UK number 46), and his biggest hit, "Tiger", which reached number 3 on the US chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. A review in Variety of a concert featuring Fabian in early 1959 declared the singer "was undoubtedly the standout of the show, who floors the kids with his gyrations and groans of “Hard Headed Woman,” “I'm a Man,” “Turn Me Loose” and, for an encore, “Stop Thief”." Other Fabian singles that charted included "String Along", "About This Thing Called Love" (written by a man who went on a crime spree) and "This Friendly World", which reached number 12 on the US chart. His first album, Hold That Tiger reached the top 15 within two weeks. The song "Think of Me", although it did not chart in the US, was a big hit in some Asian countries including Sri Lanka in 1964. A review of Hold That Tiger in Variety stated, "Fabian is a hardbelting rocking singer who has the faculty of projecting his emotions. Fabian's voice is only adequate but be delivers with a beat that is undeniably commercial. Fine backing by combo and chorus lend an important assist." In October 1959, he toured five major cities in Australia including several concerts in Sydney that were turned into the Australian film, Rock 'n' Roll. Due to a contractual dispute, however, his appearance was quickly removed from the film. That same year, Fabian told a judge he was earning $250,000 a year (equivalent to $2,761,000 in 2025) though an earlier report put this at $137,000. He kept up his studies and graduated from high school in June 1960. Fabian earned gold records for "Tiger" and "Turn Me Loose", as well as a gold album for "The Fabulous Fabian". By the time he was 18 years of age, 11 of his singles had charted on the Billboard Top 100. Marcucci admitted to punching Fabian on one occasion when the singer sat in the aisle of a movie theater, not in the middle of the row like Marcucci had asked; Fabian was spotted by a teenage fan who screamed. Marcucci was angry that he did not see the film and hit the singer. During the payola scandal of the 1960s, Fabian testified before Congress that his recordings had been doctored electronically to "significantly improve his voice". Fabian bought out his contract with Marcucci for $65,000. This was announced in July 1963. Also in 1963, he signed a contract with Dot Records. Fabian later said in 1971 that "I must say I never knew [Marcucci] to cheat me out of any money due me and he never promised me anything he didn't deliver." He stated he left his manager because "all the songs were sounding the same. So I bought myself out of the contract. It cost me plenty – a lot more than I thought it would."
In 1973, Fabian began singing again. To raise his profile, he posed nude for Playgirl magazine. "I knew it was a mistake the minute I saw the thing sold in a paper bag. I could barely live with myself." In January 1974, he started an act at the MGM-Grand in Las Vegas. He was managed at this stage by Allan Carr. In March 1974, he performed at the Blue Max of the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago. A review said "he seems rather lost in the act he was putting on... he's giving it the old beach party try. But all that, unfortunately, can't distract for long from the basic lack of talent." In October 1974, Carr – by then no longer his manager – said that Fabian was "a sensational lounge act in Nevada and shouldn't play anywhere else except on prom nights. He's not a middle of the road act in a middle of the road room. At the 12.30 am show at the Blue Max, when the conventioneers had had a few drinks it was terrific... This boy probably made $18,000 last year; this year he'll make about $270,000." Fabian often performed in Las Vegas in the mid-1970s until he fell into difficulties with the authorities after attacking a Las Vegas district attorney and resultant bankruptcy. Fabian retired once more in 1977 but resumed performing in 1981.
